=======================================U.S. Army 'Psyops' Specialists
worked for CNN By Abe de Vries
From the Dutch newspaper, Trouw, 21 February 2000 Translation by Emperor's Clothes[Posted 22 February 2000]=======================================

WASHINGTON, ATLANTA - For a short time last year, CNN
employed military specialists in 'psychological
operations' (psyops). This was confirmed to Trouw by a
spokesman of the U.S. Army. The military could have
influenced CNN's news reports about the crisis in Kosovo.

"Psyops personnel, soldiers and officers, have
been working in CNN's headquarters in Atlanta through our
program 'Training With Industry,'" said Major Thomas
Collins of the U.S. Army Information Service in a
telephone interview last Friday. "They worked as
regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have
worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in
the production of news.''

These military, a "handful" according to
Collins, stayed with CNN for at least a couple of weeks
"to get to know the company and to broaden their
horizons''. Collins maintains that "they didn't work
under the control of the army." The temporary
outplacement of U.S. Army psyops personnel in various
sectors of society began a couple of years ago. Contract
periods vary from a couple of weeks to one year.

CNN is the biggest and most widely viewed news station
in the world. The intimate liaisons with army psyops
specialists raise serious doubts about CNN's journalistic
integrity and independence. The military CNN-personnel
belonged to the airmobile Fourth Psychological Operations
Group, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of
the main tasks of this group of almost 1200 soldiers and
officers is to spread 'selected information'.

American psyops troops try with a variety of
techniques to influence media and public opinion in armed
conflicts in which American state interests are said to
be at stake. The propaganda group was involved in the
Gulf war, the Bosnian war and the crisis in Kosovo.

So far CNN has not commented on the allegations.
"I don't believe that we would employ military
personnel; it doesn't seem like something we would
normally do," said CNN-spokeswoman Megan Mahoney on
Friday evening. But when the U.S. Army Information
Service confirmed the news, Mahoney said she would have
to contact CNN's senior officials. However, on Sunday
evening CNN still could not provide an official statement
to Trouw.

CNN's coverage of the war in Kosovo, and that of other
media, has attracted criticism from several sides as
having been one-sided, overly emotional, over-simplified
and relying too heavily on NATO officials. On the other
hand, journalists have complained about the lack of
reliable information from NATO; for almost all of them it
was impossible to be on the battlefield and file first-hand
reports.

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